Birthday Treat
by Miss Romance-Lover
Summary: Stendan


**Just a little something I thought of the other day. Hope it makes you smile :)**

Birthday Treat

"Well, now that we're all...friends," Brendan announced to the two small children sitting before him. "How about ye guys stand up and do some cleaning up for me?"

Leah Barnes stood up, a determined look on her pretty little face.

"One condition," she replied, picking up the two five pound notes that the Irishman had left on the table just moments before. He raised an eyebrow at the striking similarities between this strong-minded girl and her father. Despite not being biologically related, Brendan could have spotted in an instant that Leah was Steven's daughter.

Her condition, as it turned out, was that they spent the rest of the afternoon baking a cake. And that was why, twenty minutes later, he found himself standing in the middle of Price Slice with a big bag of flour in one arm, and an over-excited Lucas in the other.

He wasn't sure exactly _how_ the five year old girl had taken charge of the situation, but for some reason he didn't give his reputation a thought as he let her lead him to the till.

"So," Brendan broached back at the flat some time later, after putting the cake mixture in the oven. "Are ye going to tell me why we're making this, or is it just an excuse to eat cake before Daddy gets home?"

Leah giggled, and Lucas copied. "We're making it _for _Daddy!" she explained, as if this should have been obvious.

He was definitely missing something here.

"Okay...well that's nice. What's the occasion?"

"It's a birthday cake. Everybody gets cake on their birthday!"

Brendan froze, his mind processing the fact that today was supposed to be a special day and, not only had Steven not said a word, but neither had he. He hadn't even known what today was, and he _should_ have done. It was an unwritten rule.

He consistently felt that Steven deserved far better than him; and this incident was just further proof of it.

"Right, 'course," Brendan smiled, recovering himself. "I was just testing ye."

Leah scrunched up her face in apparent disbelief, but she didn't say as much; just started chattering away to her brother about how to decorate the cake.

After about five minutes of silent concentration on their task – whilst Brendan quietly panicked over being so unprepared for Steven's birthday – the little girl piped up with a sudden request.

"Can you sing?"

He looked over at her in bewilderment. "Can I what?"

"Can you _sing?_" Leah repeated with an impatient sigh.

Brendan was pulled from his inner-turmoil and reminded of a cringe-worthy memory of his sister catching him singing a Lady Gaga number a few summers back.

"No," he answered, blocking out the flashback.

"But _everyone_ can sing," she insisted, and he found himself smiling at how simple life was to her. This was how every child's life should be. Happy; carefree.

The last time he'd sung along tunelessly to music, he'd thought he was happy. Only now could he look back and realise that it had meant nothing – the life he had now, _that _was what happiness was supposed to feel like.

"Okay, ye really want to hear me sing?"

Both kids nodded, bouncing up and down with enthusiasm.

Brendan could only think of one song at that moment. It was a few years old now, but it had been on loop on the club radio during the day for the past week.

"_I kissed a girl and I liked it...the taste of her cherry chapstick. I kissed a girl just to try it...I hope my boyfriend Ste don't mind it!"_

Leah and Lucas giggled with delight at the mention of their dad's name, and he was surprised at his own spontaneity. Adding it in had just felt natural, even though he'd never called Steven his boyfriend out loud before.

But that's what he was.

Leah made him keep singing it, again and again until he got sick of the sound of his own voice. He was glad of the reprieve when it was time to take the cake out of the oven.

Once the oven duties were done and the masterpiece had cooled, Brendan stood watching contentedly as they set about decorating it.

"Again, again!" Leah demanded, and he sighed, cursing the day this damn song had got stuck in his head.

"Come on, I've sung it twenty times already!" he protested.

"Come on!"

Against his better judgement – although secretly pleased at his sudden popularity – he burst into his own version of Katy Perry's song again. Leah began to sing along with him, and it was then that he heard the key turn in the lock, alerting him to Steven's arrival.

He put a finger to his lips to try and shush her, but she was having none of it.

"You singing Katy Perry?!" Steven asked in amazement as he shut the door behind him and went to hang up his jacket.

"No, no."

"_Are_," Leah piped up.

"I'm not, I'm not..."

Steven huffed out that unique laugh of his. "I didn't even know you knew the words!"

"I don't, it's on the radio all the time isn't it." At least that much was true; it wasn't as if he was a hardcore fan.

"And here's me thinking I'd be coming back to a zoo!"

Leah laughed and presented him with the cake, and he smiled and asked whose idea it had been.

And when the little girl replied with the words, 'Daddy Brendan', Brendan's heart swelled. He suddenly knew that he'd do anything for these two kids, just as he would for Steven, Cheryl and his own boys.

"Ye ain't getting rid of me now, are ye?" he teased, pecking Steven on the lips as the younger man looked on in awe.

When Leah and Lucas started singing Happy Birthday, he watched as a blush crept over an awkward looking Steven's cheeks. He caught Brendan's eye, then looked away to hug the kids as they finished their song for him.

There was definitely a conversation to be had later on...

* * *

The kids were fast asleep thanks to a special reading of 'The Three Little Pigs' courtesy of Brendan.

Ste had watched on in a dream-like state as the man had sat there, patiently reading Leah and Lucas a bedtime story and even putting on all the voices.

"Thanks for today, you've been proper good with them," he said as they flopped down in front of the TV.

Brendan turned to him with a soft smile. "Well, they're good kids."

Ste grinned back, noting the warmth in his boyfriend's eyes while talking about his children. It was more than obvious to him that the older man's day of babysitting had endeared them to him. The sight that had greeted him as he'd walked through the door had made his day.

"Steven," the Irishman said now, nudging him gently on the knee.

"Mmm?" He had just closed his tired eyes, but Brendan's tone made him open them again.

"Why didn't ye say anything about your birthday?"

Ste fidgeted in his seat, unsure how to explain himself. "I've never been bothered about celebrating it," he shrugged. "It's never been a big deal."

"Ye mean when ye were a kid?"

He remembered the years of endless beatings from his step-dad; the drunken ignorance of his mother who rarely ever knew when one day ended and another began, let alone when it happened to be her son's birthday.

Nodding in answer to the question, Ste resolved to put those memories out of his head. He was living for today now, because finally he could honestly say he had everything he wanted.

"Well, it _should_ have been celebrated today, and I should have known. I'm sorry," Brendan looked so upset that Ste almost laughed. This was what made him so different to any other hard-man: he really _cared_.

"What you on about?" he smirked. "I got a song and a cake, home-made cards off Leah and Lucas at the crack of dawn, a free babysitter for the day and I even got to hear you singing as a _special_ homecoming treat. What more could a man need?"

He was winding him up, but at the same time he truly meant every word.

"That bit at the end was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Just making that clear," Brendan announced as Ste let out a chuckle. "Seriously though, I will make it up to ye tomorrow."

Ste's eyes lit up mischievously. Suddenly all his exhaustion was melting away. "How about you make it up to me right now without having to spend any money on the present?"

"I think I can manage that," Brendan winked as they got up from the sofa. Of course, despite any protestations, there _would _be a real present coming his way before this time tomorrow.

"Happy birthday, Steven."


End file.
